FRAMINGHAM - The state budget OK'd by the Legislature Monday includes what could be the last funding piece for a $1 million project intended to preserve the historic 1812 House.

According to Dale Hamel, Framingham State University's executive vice president of administration, finance, and information technology, the state's pending $400,000 contribution would cover the remaining cost to convert the building to a new college planning center.

The university is still awaiting an updated cost estimate for the project, however, which officials hope will come in at $1 million or less.

The rest of the money for the plan, which Framingham State announced last year in response to public criticism of its original intention to tear down the 1812 House, comes from a variety of sources, Hamel said, including a $375,000 grant from the state, $155,000 from the university, and $70,000 from another university project that will build a parking lot on Salem End Road next to the historic building.

State Rep. Chris Walsh, one of the critics of the university's proposal to demolish the house, said on Monday he was pleased the state budget supported the preservation effort, and hopes that Framingham State's turnaround on the issue "signals a trend of being more sensitive to the surrounding community."

The 1812 House, the Framingham Democrat said, "means something to the community, and it means something to Framingham State. We got a commitment they would do this, and they're doing it."

Located at the edge of campus along Rte. 9, the house needs a lot of work, however. Part of the project will involve knocking down more recent additions to the historic building, and renovating the interior to house the small staff that will move in to run the college counseling program.

The new service, which will be called the MetroWest College Planning Center, will be operated jointly by Framingham State and MassBay Community College, and is intended to help local low-income, first-generation and minority students prepare to attend college.

Scott O'Connell can be reached at 508-626-4449 or soconnell@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottOConnellMW